Anybody have a collegiate dictionary you particularly like? I’m thinking of getting the boy his own for Christmas. I cringe every time he gets near mine. (Though the packing-tape reinforced spine should hold up, I keep telling myself.) Also he keeps complaining he wants to know the meaning of words less than 50 years old.
I have lots of dictionaries in lots of languages. Some are great; some…not great. Over 35 years of paying active attention to them, my favorite manageable English dictionary is The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language.
If you get one, it should have the glossaries in the back of Indo-European and Semitic roots. This one does:
http://www.amazon.com/American-Heritage-Dictionary-English-Language/dp/0395825172#reader_0395825172
The dictionary will refer the reader at each word entry to the relevant root, which can be looked up in the back. This is a terrific way to see word relationships within English (such as shirt and skirt; or shin and skin) as well as relationships between, say, Sanskrit and Latin.
Cool – thanks!
(I’m specifically trying to avoid ending up with a lousy dictionary. Took us two tries to find the children’s dictionary we like. And I’ll admit part of why my dictionary is 50 years old is because I liked it, so why take a risk with anything else?)
“my dictionary is 50 years old is because I liked it”
Huh, my preferred Latin dictionary was my grandpa’s, now my son has it at CofC.
And my Am Heritage was printed in 1981.
Nice.